Public Health Policy: General Principles Applied to Local Settings

Full course description

In the first four Prevention & Health modules students have become acquainted with (contemporary challenges within) the field of Public Health. Students have learned about health promotion, health protection and prevention. In this ‘international classroom’ module it will become clear that policy and policy development are very important for creating a good public health as well. Improving public health requires actions and interventions on various levels. This module focuses at the local (municipal, organizational) policy level. What can municipalities do to improve the health of children and citizens living in the municipality? How can they create healthy schools? How can employers make sure that employees stay vital and employable? How can public health professionals convince policy makers, decision makers and politicians that Public Health should be placed on the policy agenda? This is the type of questions which will be answered in this module. The module focuses at Public Health policy, with specific attention for the local policy process (the process in organisations (occupational health), Public Health organisations and local communities). The policy process is defined as the process from agenda setting, policy formulation, policy implementation, to policy evaluation and assurance. There will be a strong link between theory, application of this theory and practice. During the module many practical examples from the field of public health policy will be addressed and a field visit will be organized. Students are taught different theoretical approaches to agenda setting and policy which will directly be linked to specific tools to improve and manage a specific policy process. Additionally, the module covers knowledge on the different contextual aspects of the policy process, such as national and international legislation, structure and organisation of Public Health, normative beliefs, and the influence of state, market and civil society on public health.

Students will apply the knowledge they acquire during the lectures, E-lectures and discussion of the PBL cases immediately in a group paper they will write during this module. This group paper will consist of three chapters, each linked to a training (parts 1 to 3 of the Training Practicing policy skills for local public health contexts; parts 4 and 5 of this training focus on the more practical skills such as cooperation, negotiation, writing, and MT&S, and are described under module PGZ2225, which is linked to this module). The chapters of the group paper will cover the following topics, respectively: Mapping the public health systems and public health stakeholders in Europe; Policy analysis according to the rational and the political approach; Transferability of interventions: dare to compare.